Apparatus for conditioning shoe stiffener parts and the like



Aug. 1, 1933- s. P. LOVELL 1,920,411 APPARATUS FOR CONDITIONING SHOE STIFFENER PARTS AND THE LIKE Filed Jan. 13 1932 3 Sheets-Sheet l ,Jl I if I Z/ 1 2a Z/ (251% lZZZZwZZ fi/ a mm, a

g- 1, 1933- s. P. LOVELL 1,920,411

APPARATUS FOR CONDITIONING SHOE STIFFENER PARTS AND THE LIKE Filed Jan. 13 1932 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 l l I I I l I &

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APPARATUS I FOR- CONDITIONING SHOE STIFFENER PARTS AND THE LIKE I Stanley P. Lovell, Newton, Mass assignor to Arden Box Toe Company, Watertown,'Mass., a Corporation of Massachusetts Application January 13, 1932. Serial No. 586,299

2 Claims.

This invention relates to an apparatus for conditioning shoe stifiener parts for assembly with shoe uppers.

they are assembled with the shoe upper and the assembly is subjected to the pulling-over and lasting operations. toe blanks is often The conditioning of the box performed at the shoe factory by dipping them into solvents or gelatinizing liquids for the stiffening agent present in,the

blanks.

Thus, the blanks may be made up of a suitable fabric stiffened by nitrocellulose, cellulose acetate, or other stifiening medium soluble orgelatinizable in organic liquids, which function to reduce the stiff blanks to the desired limp and mouldable condition after a suitable period of contact therewith, and which are volatilized at room temperature, thereby causing a setting or hardening the shoe.

The apparatus of the present invention is. de-

signed to handle one or more rows of spaced blanks and it permits one row of the blanks to be lowered into a bath ofthe liquid and then rethe apparatus as a whole can be considered as moved from the bath so as to drain and to acquire the desired mouldable condition withouta superfiuity of liquid therein. Each rowof blanks is supported means for resiliently holding the blanks in vertical relationship, preferably with substantially all their surfaces exposed to contact by the liquid. Each carriage is mounted on mechanism permitting its lowering into the bath and then automatically causing its return to the normal position above the bath. Thecarriages are arranged side by side, so that a single bath can serve for all of them, the row of blanks supported in one of the carriage being usable by the operator while the remaining row or rows are being drained of excess liquid and acquiring the proper softness for use.

With the foregoing and other'features and objects in view, my

invention will now be de-'- scribed in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein vertical, transverse front elevation.

section, and the other in of the blanks in place in the line 11-11'oflFigure l0.'

Figure 2 is a horizontal section through the apparatus on the line 2-2 of Figure 1.

Figure 31shows a plan view of the apparatus.

Figure 4 constitutes a vertical, longitudinal sectionof the apparatus on the line l of Figure 1 and illustrates the carriage in its normal position above the bath and in its submersed position.

Figure 5 depicts in perspective one of the carriages disassociated from other parts.

Figure 6 is a sectional detail along the line 66 of Figure 4.

Figure '7 shows in perspective a "carriage provided with means for wiping as well as for resiliently holding the blanks.

Figure 8 represents a fragmentary section on manner in which a blank is held. 7 1

Figure 9 is a View similar toFigure '7 but showvthe line 8-8 of Figure '7, and illustrates the ing a carriage with another form of wiping and blank-holding means.

Figure 10 is a fragmentary section cn the line 1010 ,of Figure 9, and illustrates the way 1 in which a blank is held.

Figure 11 represents a fragmentary section on Referring in detail first to Figures 1, 2, and 3,

being made up or" a main vat or container 1 of I rectangular shape and a pair ,of carriages and. associated parts 2 arranged in side by side relationship in the vat. In back of the vat 1, there .is a closed supply tank 3, which feeds the liquid through a spout 4 discharging below the surface ofa liquid pool kept in a lower reservoir 5 whose .bottom is shown disposed somewhat above the bottom; of the vat 1'. The liquid flows from the reservoir 5 through openings 6 formed in the rear wall of the vat and forms a main pool of liquid in the vat. As liquid in the main pool is removed through absorption'by the blanks, fresh liquid enters thereinto from the reservoir 5, since the level of liquidin the main pool is always determined by the level of liquid pool in the reservoir 5, which. latter level is automatically kept constant by a flow of fresh liquid from the baroa feed to the reservoir.

The top of each carriage 2 is constructed essentially as a grating having transverse slots 60 therein permitting the insertion of box toe blanks therethrough. The slots are shown definedby tion, whose bases constitute the under-faces of the bars and whose sides thus diverge upwardly, as seen best in Figures 4 and 5. These bars, which can be formed as light, hollow elements from suitable sheet metal, may be fixed to side partitions 8 mounted on raising :and lowering mechanism presently to be described. Each bar has suspended therefrom one or more pairs of outwardly bowed or convex leaf springs 9, which can be made as a single strip of resiliently flexible metal having a horizontal upper portion 10 anchored as by a rivet 11 to the base of the bar. A spring of one bar is in pressing contact at its center with a spring of anadjacent bar, so as to form resilient holding or gripping means for a box toe blank. All the operator has to dois to grasp a rigid box toe blank between his forefinger and thumb and to insert it downwardly through the slot, so as to separate the contacting springs, and thus when released to ensure retention of the blank in a vertical position. The space between the apices of the bars is sufijcient to accommodate easily the forefinger and thumb of the operator, so that he may have no, difliculty in placing the blank in the carriage, with its upper edge somewhat below the 'apices. After a row of blanks has been placed in the carriage, it is lowered until it is completely submerged in the liquid bath in the tank 1.

Each carriage is mounted on mechanism. per mitting its lowering into the bath to the dotted line position shown in Figure A, and then automatically causing its return to the normal position shown in full lines above the bath. To this end, the side; partitions 8 includebetween them near their lower edges a housing or box 12 for a horizontal shaft 13 passing through a pair of bearings 14 fixed in place to the walls of the box near the partitions 8. Immediately outside of each partition 8, a gear 15 is affixed to the shaft and is in engagement with a vertical rack 16 fixed to a supporting member 17, which has a vertical slot therein serving to receive a key 18 formed as a cylindrical element of reduced crosssection at the end of the shaft. The shaft is thus 'free torotate and to translate vertically, but it is restrained from other movement. The possible rotaryand translator-y movement of the shaft imparting the desired up-and-down movement of the carriageis inhibited by a coil spring 19 con voluted about the'shaft, one end of the spring being anchored to the shaft, and the other to the box 12 under suflicient tension to keep the car'- riage in its normally elevated position above the bath. When the carriage is caused to descend under an applied force; so as to rotatethe shaft and further'tension the spring, the removal of the force is attended by an automatic ascent of the carriage to its normallyelevated position under spring action. Each carriage is shown provided with an upstanding push handle 200, whose lower end portion may be secured to a partition 8 and whose handle portion may project sufiiciently above the vat 1 so that it is still outside the vat 1 when the carriage has been forced to its lowerthe vat, in the side-by-side relationship best spaced bars 7 of generally triangular cross-secshown in Figure 2, to constitute essentially two separate compartments. Each box can be fabri-- cated of suitable sheet metal and include reinforcing posts 21 atits corners, and inwardly turned flanges 22 at the upper and lower edges of its walls. The supporting members 17 for each carriage are secured to opposite walls of a box, wherefore, by lifting a carriage by the handle 200, it can be removed. together with the cor responding box from the vat. Preferably, as best shown in Figures 1 and 4, the flanges 22 at the upper edges of engage over the top of the carriage and serve to stay the ascent of the carriage, which. ensues rapidly under spring action. This means that the carriage strikes against the flanges and excess liquid is shed from the blanks as a result of the impact. A suitable slot can be formed through one of the upper flanges 22 toallow the vertical movement of the handlezlio therethrough. I

As already indicated, the box toe blanks for which the apparatus of the present invention serves usually require the use of a volatile solvent. Consequently, an atmosphere of the fumes of the volatile solvent tends to accumulate above the pool of liquid solvent in the vat 1. This atmosphere is conducive to the softening and conditioning of the blanks,'and it is desirable that as little fumes as possible be lost on account of diffusion into the air. Thisdesideraturn is attained by simply closing that compartment in which the blanks are undergoing conditioning while the other compartment is open to permit the removal of. conditioned blanks therefrom. The closure for this purpose can conveniently take the form of asingie angular member composed of two covers 24 arranged at right angles to each other and secured at their region of convergence to a rock-shaft 2'5 journaled in pair of br ckets 26, which can be anchored as by screws 27 to the upper adjacent flanges of the two boxes. The boxes are thus tied together so that they can be lifted as 'a' single unit from the vat by the operator, who can conveniently effect such lifting by grasping the handles 200. The two covers are shownprovided with a brace and handle piece 28 bridging the angular gap between the covers. They may be made of sheet metal and turned downwardly at their margin portions 29, which can rest on the upper flanges 22. readily be rocked or tilted to open one compartment containing conditioned blanks and to close the compartment containing fresh blanks which the operator has just put through immersion.

The box toe blanks now on the market are blanks 30 shown in Figure l or the drawings are therefore of this type andhave the usual skived marginal portionsSl. They are preferably placed in the carriage by the operator, with their tip edges at the highest point and their vamp edges at the lowestpoint. In consequence of this dis-' position of the blanks, the excess liquid absorbed thereby during immersion in the liquid bath gravitates toward the vamp edges and thence drips into the bath, thereby ensuring the'highest state of gelatinization where it is most desired, namely, at the zone of the vamp edges. Indeed, in the case of blanks wherein cellulose derivatives like nitro-cellulose and cellulose acetate serve as the stiffening medium, the gelatinization may be so pronounced near the vamp edges that there is The cover can 1,

some exudation of the gelatinized derivative at this locality. The exuded gelatinized derivative serves to bond the blank together with the lining and the shoe upper between which the blank is inserted. Such bonding is of value, in that it does away with a loose lining and at the same reinforces the forepart of the shoe. The tip areas of the blanks are the driest, in the sense that they contain no superfiuity of gelatinized cellulose. This enables the operator to grasp this areaof the blank without smudging of the finger tips and hence without danger of soiling the shoe upper. l he so-called lasting allowance at the tip of the blanks also-lends itself to easy removal in what is known as the bed-lasting operation, as it is not unduly flabby on account of the presence of excess gelatinizing liquid.

There are some types of blanks which are so absorptive that notwithstanding shaking and draining after immersion, they still contain more liquid than is desired at the time of assembly with the shoe uppers. In such case, the carriage is preferably provided with means not only for resiliently engaging'and holding the blanks in place vertically but for wiping them as theyare removed from the carriage for use. A carriage so constructed is shown in Figure 7, wherein the carriage top is illsutrated as taking the former a grating having plane-faced bars 32 defining slots 33 through each of which a blank can be passed.

A resiliently flexiblestrip 34, for instance one rigid or unsoftened blank 36 is passed downwardly through a slot 33, the strips 34; are flexed downwardly at their outer edges and are caused to engage and hold the blank in place, as bestshown in Figure 8. Upon the removal of the blank after its submersion in the liquid, excess liquid is wiped from its surfaces and/or squeezed from its interior by the strips.

In lieu of rubber strips, the means shown in Figures 9, 10 and 11 might be used for the same purpose. fixed as at its ends to the carriage partitions 8 may be arranged immediately under an edge of each bar so that its turns or convolutions cooperate with those of an adjacent spring to engage and resiliently hold a blank 36 passed downwardly.

through a slot 33, as best shown in Figure 10. The turns or convolutions of the springs may be crowded together or closely spaced, as best shown in Figure 11, wherefore they can act to wipe sub stantially all of the surfaces of the blank which contact therewith as the blank is being withdrawn. This wiping and/or squeezing action of the springs on the blank serves the purpose of removing such superfluous liquid as may be present on the faces-and in the interior of the blank.

It is thus seen that my apparatus is of a simple, compact construction, completely devoid of pow- As shown therein, a helical spring 37' er-actuated parts which might give off sparks and thus cause the firing or exploding of the volatile and highly combustible liquids used for treating position above the bath, nevertheless I prefer.

the more sudden recoil of the carriage afforded as by the spring mechanism described. If the blanks are of a highly absorptive character and need wiping as well as draining after immersion in the liquid, the carriages may include the wiping means shown in Figures 7 to 11 inclusive or other suitable means for wiping or pressing excess liquid from'the blanks. The blanks are presented to the operator in such a position as to be removed and handled with minimumlost motion, as they are best grasped by their tip portions for placement between the shoe upper and lining. Because they are kept-above the bath in an atmosphere charged with vapors arising from the bath, they can be maintained in the desired soft'and mouldable condition indefinitely.

I claim:

1. In apparatus of the class described, a carriage for receiving a row of blanks in spaced, ver tical relationship, a horizontal shaft on which said carriage is mounted rotatably secured to said carriage, a gear affixed to said shaft, 9. vertical rack with which said gear engages, means per mitting a downward movement of said carriage under an applied force sov as to cause a rotation of said shaft by said rack, and acoil spring encompassing said shaft and one end of which is fixed to said shaft and the other to said carriage, whereby said springbecomes tensioned during the descent of said carriage and causes its automatic ascent when the applied force is removed.

2. In apparatus of the class described, mechanisin including a carriage for receiving a row of blanks spaced, vertical relationship, a horizontal shaft on which said carriage is mounted rotatably secured to said carriage, a gear affixed at each end of said shaft. a vertical rack with which 

